Who was Jesus?
James is the only book of the Bible that I do not find flaw in.
1:12 "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him."
1:17 "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."
Father of heavenly lights is probably a reference to the Ayn Soph (Light that created the world). I believe lights here is lower case, as it refers to light, such as the sun. Thus, Ayn Soph would translate Father of the heavenly lights.
I don't believe that in the use of "Lord Jesus" that Lord ought to be capitalized. For example, Flavius Josphus relates that David was called Lord (malchut), and he was worshiped as King, but nobody thought he was actually God. From a Jewish perspective king worship (not as a deity) is normal.
So who was Jesus? Was he in fact king, as his brother claimed? Jesus, claimed to be messiah several times, and their were several witnesses. First, of all I believe that due to the divided kingdom, Judah became Hellenized, ruling in the House of Troy and later Rome. Most of Judah may have even divided from Israel before the Exodus. There is some question as to whether or not the Exodus even occurred. Judah's scepter was firmly in place in Rome during the trial of Jesus, which had him executed for enticing people to apostasy.
Historically, to the tribe of Israel, messiah or mosiach is said to be a king, not God, or even a better man than David. Some of Israel followed Jesus as king, while others didn't. The nation of priests (Exodus) correctly claims he was neither God nor a king to them, so I would go with that answer. Thus, James said Jesus was king, but in fact he was mistaken, but that he spoke the truth so far as he believed is reason not to find flaw in James' writing.
I will also defend my use of the word flaw. James called Jesus king in the book of James, but R. Akiva, one of the most learned Jews ever called Simon bar Kochba the messiah in the Talmud. This does not reflect a flaw in the Talmud, but an incorrect opinion of one of its greatest scholars. If James is to be considered authoritative literature, like the Talmud, this peculiarity of Jesus as king or Simon bar Kochba as a messiah presents no possibility of calling the Talmud or the Book of James flawed over this particular point. Both works have a lot of positive things to say, overlooking these minor details.
"James is the only book of the Bible that I do not find flaw in."
ReplyDeleteThe flaw is the fact that Jewish scriptures were translated-thus providing for a commentary on Judaism that is not in Hebrew.
Adin Steinsaltz translated the Talmud. What of the Septuagint? Have you read the history behind the translating of the Tanach into Greek. The Jews have been translating, and writing commentary that is not in Hebrew for sometime now. check out www.chabad.org it is mostly commentary that was never in Hebrew.
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